The present invention relates generally to the digital delivery of broadcast television programming to multiple markets from a centralized headend. More particularly, the present invention relates to the collection and aggregation of broadcast television programming at a centralized headend, and delivery of a digital aggregated content bundle to subscribers in multiple markets via a closed wide area network derived from available fiber optic assets of communication network providers.
A variety of systems have heretofore been used to deliver forms of digital broadcast television programming to subscribers. For example, compressed digital video has been delivered to subscribers using a variety of media, including coaxial cable, fiber optic cable and satellite links. Cable television systems, digital satellite television systems (also called digital broadcast systems or xe2x80x9cDBSxe2x80x9d) and telco video services each employ content delivery models that involve aggregation of programming content from multiple content providers and delivery of the aggregated programming content to subscriber premises. However, the content delivery models of cable television system, DBS and telco video services each suffers from one or more drawbacks including transmission distance or environmental limitations on signal quality, inefficiencies of multiple headends, vulnerability to security breaches or the inability to insert local content into an aggregated national content bundle downstream from a single centralized headend.
In particular, in cable television systems, content is aggregated at a local or regional headend and is retransmitted only to subscribers within the regional or local market. Reasons for these limits are largely based on content licensing, local franchise and system technical engineering restrictions. More specifically, typical cable television system content licenses historically permit the distribution of originating content to consumers attached to Multiple System Operations (xe2x80x9cMSOxe2x80x9d) that are designated within individual television distribution markets. These systems contain small scale, individual downlink aggregation headends for each distribution area or market. Additionally for reasons based on engineering limits on the physical distribution distances and the one-to-many broadcast model, signal degradation is a significant issue for cable television systems. In order to maintain acceptable signal quality, cable television companies are often forced to construct multiple headends within the same distribution market and/or amplify the signal""s strength. Further, in order for a single cable company to reach multiple markets, it would have to construct additional headends within in each of the intended markets for the same reasons stated above.
By building multiple headends, costs are increased for both the initial capital build as well as any subsequent upgrades or rehabs. Coinciding with the cost of building multiple headend systems are related costs to staffing and maintaining the business operation necessary to keep these facilities running. Broadcast technology employed by cable television systems results in all available programming content being continually provided to all subscribers, regardless of whether they have paid for all available content. Filtering and/or scrambling technology must therefore be employed at subscriber premises to block the unauthorized viewing of programming content. Most filtering and/or scrambling technology can be circumvented, leading to an insecure system and often causing the content provider to add a revenue-loss factor into cable television pricing models.
A small antenna, or dish, consumer DBS service provides the ability to centrally aggregate television programming content at a single headend. The aggregated programming content can be rebroadcast from the single headend to subscribers in multiple markets using multiple satellites and/or satellite transponders. Programming content can be delivered to DBS service subscribers having a small satellite antenna with an uninterrupted direct line of site to the transmitting satellite. However, a drawback of the DBS architecture is that local or regional content cannot be introduced into the centrally aggregated programming content downstream from the headend, i.e., at the local or regional level. Any local or regional programming content to be provided to local or regional subscribers must be received at a remote site in the local market, transmitted from the remote site to the headend for aggregation with the national programming content, and then retransmitted back to the original local market as part of the aggregated content bundle.
Because all of the available programming is simultaneously beamed to all subscribers, bandwidth allocation, and therefore, channel capacity, becomes a critical limitation of DBS. For example, during peak usage times or during simultaneous broadcast of multiple channels of high-bit rate programming like special sports programming packages, additional bandwidth must be made available to certain channels. Because the amount of available transponder bandwidth is fixed by physical limitation, the bandwidth available for other channels must be statistically reduced, resulting in loss of picture quality. Another drawback of DBS is that reception quality in general depends on proper installation of the satellite antenna and environmental conditions as previously described. Furthermore, as in cable television systems, or in any system in which all channels are delivered to all customers, DBS systems are vulnerable to breaches of security.
In recent years, telephone companies (Telcos) have been encouraged to deploy advanced broadband systems that include competitive video services to their traditional phone service customers. Systems have recently been introduced to deliver these broadband video services to subscribers over services commonly referred to in the telco industry as xe2x80x9clast-milexe2x80x9d technologies, such as xDSL (all DSL). Makers of known last-mile systems have invented or perfected technologies that are positioned to receive services like aggregated programming content and to distribute those services to their customers. Content is designed to be received in an acceptable format in its already aggregated form and then disseminated to consumers through these last-mile technologies.
However, last-mile systems, as they stand alone, do not provide an end-to-end system that includes in its design all of the components and methods for providing video content to end users. In particular, last-mile delivery systems do not address the inefficiencies of multiple headend cable television systems or the affects of weather on signal quality in DBS systems. Therefore, these known last-mile transport systems fall short in that they do not provide solutions to the inefficiencies and drawback of cable television systems or DBS systems.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a system and method for delivering broadcast television programming from a centralized headend to subscribers in multiple markets, while avoiding the aforementioned drawbacks of cable television and DBS systems. There further remains a need for an end-to-end content delivery system and method that can rely on existing and emerging last-mile transport delivery systems employed by Telcos.
The present invention satisfies the above described needs by providing systems and end-to-end methods for delivering broadcast television programming to subscribers in multiple markets using an interconnected terrestrial fiber optic networks. A centralized aggregation headend receives multiple broadcast television signals, comprising multi-market programming content, from multiple content providers. The centralized aggregation headend aggregates the multiple broadcast television signals into a digital aggregated content bundle. The digital aggregated content bundle is prepare for transport over an interconnected long-haul fiber optic network, which comprises multiple fiber optic networks that are interconnected by a plurality of interconnection points of presence (IPoPs). The digital aggregated content bundle is transported over the interconnected long-haul fiber optic network to a plurality of local or metro PoPs (L/M PoPs), each of which is located in a different market.
Broadcast television signals may be received at the centralized aggregation headend as analog signals, digital signals and/or high definition television signals. Analog signals are converted to digital signals prior to creation of the aggregated content bundle, so that the aggregated content bundle can be created in a digital format that is widely compatible with fiber optic networking technologies. For example, the aggregated content bundle may comprise a plurality of MPEG-2 digital signals and may have an ATM-based transport format. This digital aggregated content bundle may be passed through a multi-market ad insertion loop at the centralized aggregation headend for insertion of multi-market advertising segments and other multi-market insertion content into the multi-market programming.
A plurality of central offices are interconnected with at least one of the L/M PoPs via one or more local fiber optic systems. Equipment in each of the central offices is configured for receiving the digital aggregated content bundle via at least one of the local fiber optic systems and for transporting the digital aggregated content bundle to the subscriber premises via a last-mile transport system. A local integration headend may be located in one or more of the central offices or in a facility that is accessible to the local fiber optic network via a L/M PoP. The local integration headend may be configured for receiving the digital aggregated content bundle prior to transport thereof to the subscriber and for adding local programming content to the digital aggregated content bundle. The local integration headend may also be configured with a local ad insertion loop for inserting local advertising and other local insertion content into the local programming content and/or the multi-market programming content within the digital aggregated content bundle. The local integration headend may further be configured for integrating data services, two-way video services, and/or telephony services with the digital aggregated content bundle.
End-to-end customer service is provided by way of a network management/customer service integration server that is in communication with a plurality of network management systems. A network management system may be located at the centralized aggregation headend, at each of the IPoPs, at the plurality of L/M PoPs, at the plurality of central offices, at one or more segments of the interconnected long-haul fiber optic network and at one or more segments of each local fiber optic system. The network management systems may communicate with the network management/customer service integration server, for example, via the Internet or other data network. The network management/customer service integration server receives state and status data from each of the network management systems and integrates the states and status data for presentation to a customer service representative through a user interface. The network management/customer service integration server may host a web-based user interface that is accessible by a customer service terminal executing a browser and connected to the data network.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of this detailed description.